ATHENS, Greece — One of the most important trials in recent Greek history entered its final stretch as suspected members of neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn accused of murdering an anti-fascist rapper were set to enter their pleas.
Over a dozen defendants are on trial, a court source says, including the man who confessed to fatally stabbing 34-year-old rapper Pavlos Fyssas in September 2013 while claiming self-defense.
Fyssas’s murder was a catalyst in shedding light on the neo-Nazi group that organized food donations at the height of Greece’s economic crisis, striking a chord with desperate voters.
Magda Fyssa, mother of murdered rapper Pavlos Fyssas, is seen at the trial of suspected members of neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn accused of murdering the rapper, in Athens on June 20, 2019. (Tatiana Bolari/AFP)
But the group is also suspected of hunting down foreigners and political opponents. Prosecutors are seeking to prove that violent acts were encouraged, if not actively ordered, by senior Golden Dawn officials.
In a related case in May, two Greeks were sentenced to over 21 years in prison for the racially aggravated murder of 27-year-old Pakistani migrant worker Shehzad Luqman.
Luqman’s 2013 death, another fatal stabbing, is among crimes investigated in connection with the Golden Dawn trial.
A verdict in the trial, which began in 2015, is expected by early next year.
Until recently the third largest party in Greek parliament, Golden Dawn took major losses in European Parliament elections in May, losing about half its voter support.
— AFP
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